9 June 2021
Staying in local hands: Union Investment acquires headquarters of Hamburg Süd shipping company
• Landmark office ensemble in downtown Hamburg
• Complex to be repositioned after shipping company moves out
• Floor plans suitable for creating small and large spaces
Union Investment has acquired the headquarters of Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg Süd) at Willy-Brandt-Straße 59-65. The shipping company is moving out of its long-established home at the end of this year after some 57 years. Union Investment will then reposition the landmark office ensemble, which was completely refurbished in terms of technology and energy in 2016, in the market.
Offering a total of 18,611 sq m of rental space, the complex with the cityscape-defining high-rise tower is suitable for subdivision and also for open-plan use. The ensemble includes around 100 underground parking spaces. It is located between the southern edge of the city centre and the northern border of the port area (Speicherstadt warehouse district) within the Hamburg-City submarket. For years, the district has been one of Hamburg’s most sought-after submarkets and achieves the highest prime and average rents.
“As a Hamburg-based real estate investment manager, we are particularly looking forward to reposition this iconic building and making it attractive to new users. The EMPORIO tower in Hamburg’s Neustadt district, involved completely revitalising a similarly striking and historic building, then fully re-letting it as a multi-tenant property after Unilever moved out.
With its unique city centre location, good transport links and flexible floor plans, the Hamburg Süd building definitely has the potential to be another success story in our Hamburg home market.”
Wolfgang Kessler, a member of the management team at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH.
The prestigious and highly visible office ensemble was built in 1964. It comprises four sections: a 16-storey tower, a two-storey connecting building, a six-storey block and a seven-storey building. The complex includes one of Hamburg’s first high-rise towers, designed by Hamburg architect Cäsar Pinnau. In 2016, the three existing parts of the complex were upgraded in terms of technology and energy efficiency, and the seven-storey office building was added. The first three buildings were given protected status in 2011.
The acquisition will be added to the holdings of special real estate fund UniInstitutional German Prime Select. The vendor is the Oetker Group. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Union Investment was advised legally by Hogan Lovells, technically by Waterbound Real Estate and Arcadis, and tax-wise by Pöllath & Partner. The transaction was brokered by Angermann Investment Advisory.
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For Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH
